'90s fitness icon Susan Powter disappeared from public life after 'mortifying' Hollywood experience

While gathering a palmy vocation arsenic a fittingness guru successful the '90s, Susan Powter, who roseate to fame arsenic the look of the "Stop the Insanity!" infomercial, big of "The Susan Powter Show" and writer of galore fare and value nonaccomplishment books, was secretly warring her ain conflict down the scenes. 

"They started to nutrient the 'me' retired of me," Powter, who is promoting her caller book, "And Then Em Died…Stop the Insanity! A Memoir," told People magazine. 

"And that happened erstwhile the wealth got to present [raising her manus up high]. Then, it was like, 'Oh, Suze, don't accidental that. No, no. It's a small excessively much. Oh, you're shocking. Shocking.' But that's the aforesaid daze that got maine there.

"I worked precise hard connected ['The Susan Powter Show']. Shooting 3 shows a day. I did it with everything I had," she added. "But it was mortifying. They enactment maine successful pearls. Look astatine me. Do I look similar the pearl type? And I didn't person immoderate say. All those segments, I can't adjacent ticker them now."

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Susan Powter roseate to fame successful the 1990s arsenic a fittingness guru.  (Getty Images)

Powter's roadworthy to occurrence started astatine 1 of the darkest points of her life. She was a 260-pound parent of 2 successful the midst of a bitter divorce. 

"I was a frightened, angry, isolated azygous parent who dealt with trauma by shoving abdominous into my mouth," the Australian native, who moved to the United States with her household erstwhile she was 10 years old, told the Washington Post successful 1994. "I went up to 260 pounds. I had yo-yo'd my full life, but I was ne'er obese similar this. I had nary energy, I was depressed, my ankles were blown up. I knew I had to resurrect myself from the dead."

"I’m not kidding erstwhile I archer you I was going to stroke my caput off," she said portion speaking astatine the Broadcast Advertising Club luncheon astatine the Hyatt Regency Chicago that aforesaid year, according to the Chicago Tribune. "I americium not lying. I didn’t privation to unrecorded anymore. My beingness was successful the toilet." 

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It was astatine that constituent Powter decided to instrumentality charge. 

Powter's vocation started astatine 1 of the darkest points of her life. She was a self-proclaimed 260-pound parent of 2 successful the midst of a bitter divorce.   (Getty Images)

"I conscionable got up and spoke to women," she told People. "That's what I did successful the infomercial. It was unrehearsed, unscripted. And those women responded."

Through her infomercial, Powter offered a wellness bundle that combined a low-fat fare with an workout regimen. According to The Washington Post, the $79.80 bundle included 5 audio tapes, an workout video, a look collection, a usher to food-fat contented and a caliper to measurement assemblage fat. 

At the time, Powter was selling astir 15,000 of these packages each week, grossing successful the $5 cardinal range, according to the Post. 

Before she knew it, the fittingness guru had established a sanction for herself and signed her archetypal declaration with her manager and an investing spouse successful hopes of processing "an workout workplace and possibly a covering line," she told People. 

Her vocation unexpectedly skyrocketed arsenic she began appearing connected the nationally syndicated daytime speech amusement "The Home Show" and was fixed a $2 cardinal beforehand for her archetypal book. She erstwhile sold $50 cardinal successful products yearly, according to People.

Powter's vocation skyrocketed with the assistance of her infomercial "Stop The Insanity!" (Getty Images)

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"Nobody expected that," she told the outlet. 

While things seemed to beryllium moving smoothly, Powter said she dilatory began to suffer power of herself, her representation and her concern plan. 

"I wasn't moving my company; it was a 50/50 deal," said Powter, who yet attempted to abstracted herself from the concern woody she was successful astatine the time. "There was thing but lawsuits successful the ‘90s."

In 1995, Powter filed for bankruptcy. 

"Yes, determination was money, but I ne'er had $300 cardinal successful the slope account," she said. "I ne'er made the wealth that I generated."

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The fittingness guru filed for bankruptcy successful 1995 and aboriginal near Hollywood.  (Getty Images)

Powter made the life-changing determination to permission Hollywood and unrecorded a overmuch simpler beingness successful Seattle with her 3 children. 

"I didn't conscionable marque a determination to leave. My bosom got stomped successful half," said Powter, who came retired arsenic lesbian successful 2004. "It was shocking. I was furious. And I was conscionable like, I'm conscionable out."

Powter opted for a "hippie" manner that near her feeling "very happy" for a play of time. But, earlier she knew it, she was struggling financially. 

"Try to get a occupation arsenic a 60-year-old woman," said Powter, who yet moved to Las Vegas and has been delivering for Grubhub and Uber Eats the past six years. 

"I’ve known desperation," added Powter, who lives successful a low-income elder community. "Desperation is walking backmost from the payment office. It’s the daze of, ‘From there, present I’m here? How successful God’s name?’"

Despite losing hope, Powter's religion was restored erstwhile histrion Jamie Lee Curtis approached her with the thought of documenting her beingness story. 

These days, Powter is delivering for Grubhub and Uber Eats.  (Getty Images)

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"I was successful tears," Powter said of archetypal gathering Curtis, an enforcement shaper connected the upcoming documentary called "Stop the Insanity: Finding Susan Powter." "And I said 'Thank you. Thank you for believing successful me. I had mislaid faith. I had mislaid implicit and implicit hope.'"

"As 1 of the world's archetypal existent influencers astatine the opening of what we would present notation to arsenic the societal media era, Susan Powter was brazen and brave, and woke america each up," Lee told People of Powter. "Like truthful galore women's stories, Susan's powerfulness and her airy was diminished, denigrated and dismissed."

Oscar victor Jamie Lee Curtis said, "Susan Powter was brazen and brave, and woke america each up." (Rodin Eckenroth/Getty Images)

Powter said she's looking guardant to reconnecting with radical astir the U.S. arsenic she begins to beforehand her publication and is anxious to proceed gathering her legacy. 

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"Those women volition perceive my voice, and they'll beryllium like, 'Well, goddamn, she hasn't changed 1 bit.'" she said. "What I consciousness present is the anticipation of possibilities. There were days and days, months and months and years of not feeling that. I mislaid hope, but I'm filled with it now. I person ne'er been much excited."